Industry First for Home Electronics Retail Stores in Japan

Industry First for Home Electronics Retail Stores in Japan

Yamada Denki Rolls out iTunes Card with InComm Technology at All Retail Locations

ATLANTA, March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- InComm, the industry leading marketer, distributor and technology innovator of stored value gift and prepaid products, is teaming up with Yamada Denki. As of February 20th, Yamada Denki, Japan's largest appliance and home electronics stores will be offering the iTunes Card with InComm's Fastcard point-of-sale activation (POS) technology at all of its retail locations.

iTunes Cards are available in denominations of 1,500 yen, 3,000 yen and 5,000 yen, and can be redeemed on the iTunes Store (http://www.apple.com/jp/itunes/store/) to purchase and download the latest hits and best catalog music for all genres and other digital content, including music videos, audiobooks and games. Yamada Denki had previously offered the card to customers, but the stock control procedures required for value-bearing prepaid cards made actively marketing the card in store locations impractical.

Yamada Denki chose the Fastcard point-of-sale activation (POS) technology developed by InComm because it simplifies stock control and reduces the risk of loss, making it easy to actively promote card sales. The iTunes Card carries no value until the point-of-sale system activates the card when a sale is made. By displaying the card, it eliminates the need to wait while store staff retrieves a card from the safe which is required for value bearing cards. Yamada Denki piloted the InComm solution at twelve of its LABI mega-stores in December 2008, driving sales growth of over 200% in the first month, which resulted in the decision to roll out iTunes Cards POS activation to all Yamada Denki retail locations.

"The integration was built from scratch, so this launch was important for InComm," said Brian Parlotto, Senior Vice President of Products and International Sales. "Japan is a technical country and the retail industry there has a long history and particular way of business. We have found the difference not only in IT integration, but in logistics, settlement, reconciliation, and customer care. We are honored to be selected as Yamada Denki's technology partner."

While most retailers in North America use point-of-sale activation which enables display merchandizing of gift and prepaid cards, this is the first roll out of this technology in the mass-retail appliance and home electronic industry in Japan.

"As an industry leader, one of our responsibilities is to adopt the latest technology in the world to create a new market in the Japanese electronics retail industry. After careful study and trial, we have confirmed that InComm's Fastcard technology minimizes the risk of inventory and maximizes the retail sale. It also streamlines operations at the store level," said Mr. Hiroyasu Iizuka, Executive Vice President of YAMADA DENKI CO., LTD.

Yamada Denki is reviewing the potential to add other prepaid cards to expand the product category in the future.

About InComm

InComm is the industry leading marketer, distributor and technology innovator of stored-value gift and prepaid products using its state-of-the-art point-of-sale transaction technology and payment solutions to revolutionize retail product sales and customer experiences. With almost $8 billion in retail sales transactions processed in 2007, InComm is the nation's largest provider of gift cards, prepaid wireless products, reloadable debit cards, digital music downloads, content, games, software and bill payment solutions. InComm partners with consumer brand leaders around the world to provide more than 145,000 retail locations the products and services their customers demand. Since 1992, InComm's patented technologies have made the buying process easier for consumers while streamlining the selling process for product and retail partners. To learn more about InComm, visit www.incomm.com or call 1.800.352.3084. InComm is headquartered in Atlanta with offices in Japan, Canada, Europe, Puerto Rico, Colorado, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Oregon, Arkansas, Alabama, Minnesota and Mississippi.

Source: InComm

CONTACT: Media Contact in English, Jenn Boutwell, InComm,
+1-770-882-2240, jboutwell@incomm.com, or Media Contact in Japanese, InComm
Japan, PR dept., Incomm-japan@incomm.com

Web Site: http://www.incomm.com/

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